Jamón ibérico is the pinnacle of Spanish dry-cured ham: the hind leg of the black-footed Iberian pig (Sus scrofa domesticus), salted and aged for two to four years until it turns a deep, almost translucent crimson marbled with soft, ivory fat. The most prized grade — ibérico de bellota — comes from pigs fattened on acorns (bellotas) in the open oak pastures of western Spain, whose diet melts down into a nutty, buttery fat that renders at body heat. Hand-carved wafer-thin, it eats sweet, deeply savoury and almost melting, with a lingering hazelnut-and-cured-meat finish that sets it apart from — and above — everyday jamón serrano.